


Ticket to Ride

by Desidera



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/M, M/M, several implied ships involving Atem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:55:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29768247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Desidera/pseuds/Desidera
Summary: It's a long flight from New York to Domino. Even for the Blue Eyes White Dragon Jet. Long enough for two people to talk about things they share, and things they don't.
Relationships: Kaiba Seto/Mutou Yuugi, Mazaki Anzu | Tea Gardner/Mutou Yuugi
Comments: 7
Kudos: 15





	Ticket to Ride

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thank you to Nenya85 for reading through this and helping me figure things out - I cannot tell you often enough how much I appreciate it!
> 
> Very special thanks to KuriobohIChooseYou and Cuilchan for your encouragement and support of this story that kept me from abandoning it when it was giving me a hard time! It's here now thanks to you two!
> 
> Shout-out to my fellow Prideshippers at the Dark Pride of Dimensions Discord who, ironically enough, managed to turn me into a multishipper.

She had checked the caller ID, three times. It was an official KC number. Not a joke of Jounouchi’s then, not that she would deem Jou that cruel. If it was a joke at all, it would have to be Kaiba’s sick idea of a joke, and since she wasn’t expecting Kaiba to make any jokes at all, it had to be real.

“I have instructions to ask you to join Kaiba-sama on his return flight to Domino on the 27th, 3 pm local time. Since you finish at the theatre at 1 pm he’ll send a car for you so you can make it. He also wants to tell you that you can ask to be taken back to New York City at any time during the next month with a one week advance notice since there will be need for a few KC transfers during that time.”

How the hell did Kaiba know her schedule? Did he know it was the end of theatre season and she was free for a month? Did he know that after days of thinking it over from every possible angle, she had decided, with a heavy heart, that she couldn’t afford the flight to Domino at the moment? For a second she wondered if he was using his satellites to spy on people, had watched her cry herself to sleep when she had realised she wasn't going to see her friends, wasn't going to see Yuugi after all. She dismissed the thought. The far more logical solution was that Yuugi had let something slip after they had talked a week ago. That Kaiba had listened, and...cared? 

Hours after the call, she was still puzzled. However, refusing the offer had never been an option. She desperately wanted to go to Domino, she wanted to be  _ home _ . 

The KC car came to pick her up a few blocks away from the theatre, as she had requested on the phone, a silent but polite driver she didn’t recognise helping her with the luggage. She was wondering if Kaiba had a private airport here like the one at KC Domino, but they were driving to JFK. There was no need to even get out of the car, though, they were passing security check points directly in the runway area and finally they stopped right in front of... Kaiba's jet. The Blue Eyes White Dragon Jet. She had  _ not  _ expected that. Certainly Kaiba owned other aircrafts? Surely he wasn’t planning to fly them himself to Japan, and surely she wasn’t meant to sit behind him in the passenger seat usually reserved for Mokuba?

“You might want to suit up for this ride,” a familiar drawling voice arose behind her back, “It gets a little cold in the cockpit on intercontinental flights.”

She whirled around, too startled for the movement to have the poise and grace she usually radiated on the dancefloor. “Kaiba.”

“Mazaki.” He looked the same as she remembered him, except for the black body-hugging flight suit he wore instead of his usual flaring coat. “You’re on time, good. I wouldn’t have wasted a minute to wait for you if you had been late.”

Anzu opened her mouth in outrage to protest his rudeness, but snapped it shut again when it sunk in that she was going to be sitting behind this man in the cockpit of his Blue Eyes Jet for the next thirteen or so hours. “I don’t have a suit like that, obviously,” she said instead, her voice more challenging than she had meant to sound, but apparently it was harder than she had thought to swallow Kaiba’s deprecating tone.

“Obviously.” A smirk tugged at the edges of Kaiba’s rigidly set lips. “You do now.” He snapped his fingers and one of the security guards flanking him handed her a black suit. 

She glanced warily at the suit in her hands, eyes narrowing when she found the tag. “How do you know my size?”

Kaiba did not so much as blink when he answered, “Easy. I hacked into the theatre’s account and got your CV.”

Feeling the heat rising to her cheeks and anger boiling hot in her stomach, Anzu put her hands on her hips. “A call wouldn’t have been easier, would it? And a little more conventional than intruding on someone’s privacy like that.”

Kaiba shot her a condescending look. “But this was much more fun. And I would consider it an insult to be called ‘conventional’. There’s a cargo bay in the "belly", you can put the suit on there.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Anzu said sourly, and turned towards the belly of the beast. She couldn't help but notice how accurate Kaiba’s rendition of his favourite duel monster was even in this form. The sharp metal layers overlapping on the fuselage like scales were glinting in the sunlight, the spiky mechanical claws were dug into the earth just as fierce and deadly as she remembered them on the original. 

The suit fit her perfectly and Kaiba acknowledged this with a nod when she emerged from the cargo bay. The Blue Eyes' head holding the cockpit was lowered to the ground, and Kaiba pressed a button to open the lid. As the glass panel slid away Anzu mentally went through the few things she had stored in her backpack instead of the suitcase that was now tucked safely into a storage compartment in the cargo bay: a book, an apple and a sandwich, a bottle of water, her mobile, headphones and a neck cushion. Would she need anything else? What if she… 

"If you need to use the bathroom, it's this door, then turn right," Kaiba explained, pointing to a small hatch behind their seats. "Your seat reclines, of course, if you want to sleep, just press this button. You can use your on-board computer screen to watch movies but I'm afraid there's mostly Mokuba's favourites available. There's also a seat heater."

"Ah, thank you," Anzu said, a little awestruck by the idea of taking a seat in a place Kaiba had designed solely for his little brother's comfort. Kaiba was already climbing into the pilot seat and putting on his helmet. Anzu imitated him and lowered herself into her seat. The lid of the cockpit latched silently over them. 

While Kaiba was first talking to flight control then to his employees on the radio, Anzu chanced a curious look at the controls. She’d never been in the cockpit of a plane before. A lot of the jet's controls seemed to be computer-based, there was less actual gear than she had expected. The computer screen in front of her had a number of options available that seemed to activate on fingerprint since they lit up red the moment she touched the screen experimentally. There were a few options that were highlighted green instead, the promised seat heating and a selection of movies being among them. 

"You are cleared for takeoff," the radio voice announced. "Initiating CTOL," Kaiba answered and activated the main thrusters, turbines roaring to life somewhere behind them. The jet's nose lifted slightly off the ground but was kept low as the jet started to accelerate on the runway. Looking out of the windshield she marvelled at the incredible speed the jet was gaining even here on the ground. The moment when the metal beast's claws lost contact with the runway was almost imperceptible, only a sharp tug in her stomach and the slightly upturned nose told her when it happened. For a moment she imagined the dragon roaring with joy at its newfound freedom. 

They were surging up towards the clouds. The experience of watching through the windshield and glass roof was fundamentally different from watching out of a tiny airplane window. The vastness of the skies was overwhelming, the exhilarating sense of speed at takeoff dissolved into tranquility as the jet became airborne. Once they burst through the clouds and immaculate blue skies greeted them above, Anzu felt herself breathing deeply, freely, a soft smile on her face. Now at last it was real to her. She was going home. She would see her friends, her family, and Yuugi. 

"Thank you for doing this, Kaiba," she finally spoke, anger left behind on the ground. "I appreciate it." 

Kaiba's shoulder twitched. It might have been a shrug. "I was here anyway."

"Still, it's nice of you," she insisted, wondering if Kaiba was rolling his eyes at her, or clenching his teeth at the mere suggestion of 'friendship talk'. Well, she would not censor what she wanted to say just to endorse Kaiba's bizarre ideas of more or less friendly interaction.

Kaiba made a noncommittal noise much like a snort but it was obscured by his helmet. 

"How long have you been staying in the US?" she asked, trying to forego the awkwardness. 

"Three days," came the curt reply. 

"Business deals? Or do you have plans for a US tournament?" 

"No." 

Anzu sighed. "Oh, alright then, let's just sit in awkward silence for the next thirteen hours, why don't we?" 

"It's only ten."

"Ten?"

"Ten hours." Now Kaiba sounded smug. "This is the Blue Eyes Jet, you wouldn't really expect it to be as slow as a common airliner?" 

"Oh, that's actually good to hear." Less awkward silence, then, she thought to herself but was willing to take the olive branch Kaiba had offered. "I was wondering why you’d use your Blue Eyes Jet for a business flight, but if it's that much faster it definitely makes sense."

"That, and it relaxes me to pilot my favourite jet."

Anzu looked at Kaiba's back in surprise. Had he just shared something personal with her? She decided to go along with it instead of questioning the fragile bud of conversation that had emerged between them. 

"Ten hours is still a rather long flight. Won't you get tired at some point?" 

"Hardly," Kaiba drawled. "I’m used to concentrating for long periods of time. And there's an autopilot of course."

They lapsed into silence for a moment and Anzu watched in fascination as they soared through a second layer of clouds, this one thinner than the first, little puffs of cotton wool floating around the jet, some of smokey grey, some of unblemished white color. 

"Do you do aerial maneuvers sometimes, just for fun?" she wondered.

There was a change in Kaiba's posture. Anzu knew it well, she’d seen it countless times, after all. The moment of challenge, the moment Kaiba would brandish his duel disk, the moment he’d gear up mentally, the moment… The exact posture he’d always assumed when Yuugi had traded places with Atem. 

"What would you like to try? A roll? A spin? A hammerhead?" There was a feral note in his voice, something that vibrated deep in his throat with the implication of danger. 

She grinned to herself. Tagging along through various kinds of mortal danger had probably left her a branded child, too. "How about all of them?" 

"I hope you've fastened your seatbelt," was the only warning she got before the jet swerved to the side, rolling inverted, and the nose dipped down. Anzu found herself eye in eye with the ground. She bit back a scream and felt her stomach leap with the surge of adrenaline and excitement. Kaiba pulled them out of the dive and up into a loop but didn't stop there. Instead he continued upwards until she could feel the tug of gravity lasting on the aircraft in every fibre of her body. Again the nose dipped down towards the ground. The unusual shape of the jet sent it into a zig-zagging roll. Fear spiralled, closing off her throat and taking her breath away, and for a moment she was certain Kaiba had lost control then and there, but a second later he pulled them out of the dive and with a u-turn continued into the direction they were headed. The air slammed back into her lungs with a loud gasp, bubbles of laughter escaped in the wake of terror. 

The noise Kaiba made could have been interpreted as a chuckle. "I always seem to make the mistake of underestimating you, Mazaki." 

Anzu felt lightheaded and daring, so she answered, "We’re more alike than you'd think, Kaiba, at least in some ways."

"Indeed, we are." 

She was looking for sarcasm in his words but could not find it. "I…didn't expect you to agree," she admitted honestly. 

"Hn. We probably have different things in mind."

What was that supposed to mean? Staring at Kaiba's back, Anzu tried to make sense of his words. What was it that  _ she _ had had in mind? 

"There are many things I don't get about you, Kaiba. But one thing I always could relate to is your single minded determination to fight destiny."

"Destiny," Kaiba snorted, "Destiny is an excuse for not wanting to take responsibility."

Anzu found herself nodding despite Kaiba being unable to see her. "There are people who are insecure about their decisions. I guess it helps to tell yourself something happening to you was fated, was meant to be. But in the end it’s still you who has to live with it. People forget that."

"People, Mazaki? More like, your friends?" 

"They’re your friends, too," she shot back angrily. "And don't you dare deny it. After all we've been through."

"I don't know if we agree on the definition of 'friends'." 

"What's yours then?" she challenged. "The entire 'risking your life to help each other' stuff isn't clear enough? Hell, even Jounouchi has changed his mind about you."

"I very much doubt that." 

"Well, keep your doubts to yourself. And Yuugi has offered you friendship right from the start, when everyone was still sore about… when we didn't know each other yet." She was pretty certain that mentioning Death-T was not going to further their conversation in a positive way. 

However, being straightforward instead of beating around the bush was another trait they shared. 

"You mean, when I wanted to kill you and almost succeeded in killing Yuugi's grandfather."

"It was a long time ago. A lot has happened in between. And you’ve never shied away from responsibility. I for one, hold no grudges against you."

Kaiba laughed bitterly. "I wonder sometimes if there's going to be a moment when you wake up from the sugar plum fairy world you’ve created and discover reality to be a wasteland of cold burned earth."

"You make your own destiny, Kaiba, I make my own reality." She leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms defiantly. 

She could hear him sigh, a strangely intimate sound in the confined space of the cockpit. "You can always try to pretend. But when your reality suddenly consists of your brother being kidnapped, when someone is taken from you like that, it changes things."

Anzu of course had no answer to this. Sure, her reality hadn’t always been a stroll in the park, terrible things had happened to her friends. But had she ever felt that same kind of devastation Kaiba must have experienced? Their group of friends had been looking out for each other, they had been through all of this together. Kaiba had always been alone. 

She suddenly remembered the stabbing pain of loss, the heart-constricting emptiness, the gaping void left in the wake of Atem's departure. It came back to her in a flash, emotions she had thought long buried rising to the surface again. The little things: A teacup in Yuugi’s house that Atem had liked to use, delicate china adorned with a red dragon. What to do with it now? Wishing for a grave or a tombstone, something material, where she could put down that cup for him - he might need it where he was now - knowing it was a ridiculous idea but not being able to shake it off... 

But during all of this, she’d never been lonely, she'd still had Yuugi. Always Yuugi, his strength, his conviction, his determination solid as a rock. 

The little things: Looking at the Dark Magician card. The way it grabbed at her heart, the way her heart seemed to swell with the ache against that squeezing pressure, her entire body weak, defenseless. Yuugi, taking the card out of his deck in the silence of his room, where a ray of sunlight was caressing the Magician’s impassive features, meaning to put it into a locked and treasured box but suddenly clutching it to his chest instead. The way Yuugi was shaking with a choked sob that he wouldn’t allow to escape. The smile he had forced onto his face, for her sake, as she put her hand over his, tears streaming down her face when he did what felt right but would have been impossible for her to do - returning the Dark Magician to his deck, keeping that part of their memories of Atem close instead of laying it to rest. 

She struggled silently, trying to regain her balance instead of losing herself in that lonely tomb. 

It wasn’t just Yuugi and her. How many times had Kaiba been faced with the Dark Magician card ever since Atem had left? How many times had the bittersweet pang of remembrance been Kaiba's reality? 

While she had clung to Yuugi with his uplifted eyes, his firm resolution not to mourn Atem as a dead person but appreciate him as a dear friend who had found luck far away, Kaiba had taken upon himself the seemingly impossible quest of following the pharaoh's spirit. Had he found comfort in going there the same way she had in staying behind? 

They'd never had the guts to ask Kaiba… 

"What happened?" Anzu blurted out, her mustered courage on the tip of her tongue. "When you went to the afterlife, I mean. I know you talked to Yuugi, but none of us really got anything out of him, except 'Atem is fine, he is happy.' How… is he really?" 

Kaiba was silent and Anzu could hear her own heart pounding against her ribcage.

"I understand if you don't want to answer," she mumbled in a small voice. "I… had to ask."

"He's different," Kaiba said slowly, a little reluctantly, as if he was constantly fighting an impulse to snap at her and run. 

She waited a few seconds before she pressed on. “Different how?”

“He’s… complete.”

“Complete?” She inquired incredulously. “That sounds like you’re talking about a project. About your AI…”

“That’s NOT what I meant,” Kaiba hissed, and the sudden anger in his voice startled Anzu so much that she jerked back. Taking a breath, Kaiba gathered himself. “I’m aware that it wasn’t...an adequate choice of words.”

Anzu decided to wait, to give him time to express his thoughts the way he wanted to. A few minutes later she was wondering if he had let the subject slip entirely and she’d just messed up her one chance at learning news about Atem other than from Yuugi who would collect himself carefully at the mention of Atem’s name, pull his lips into a smile with effort, and tell her what he thought she wanted to hear. 

Kaiba very softly cleared his throat. "I experienced what it means to be at peace. He is where he belongs, not because he has to be there, not because it’s his destiny, but because this is the place where his soul can finally rest."

He paused for a moment, then went on, and his tone of voice, dark and grazed by pain, made Anzu's stomach clench.

"The concept of time, at least the way we experience it, does not apply to...that place. He welcomed me like we had parted the day before. He asked me if I'd come back for a duel tomorrow when I left him." There was a miniscule almost undetectable break in his voice on the word ‘tomorrow’.

She imagined it, could see it in her mind almost like a movie. Kaiba, who had defied the laws of space and time and probably magic as well, in case magic worked by a set of rules at all, standing in front of the Pharaoh he’d chased so desperately, being greeted by him like a casual acquaintance. This was probably the worst reaction Kaiba could have gotten, and she  _ understood _ . She knew the wretched feeling of being just one among many to the Pharaoh. Yes, Atem had considered her a friend, one of his best friends. But she’d been honest enough with herself to accept that the friendship they shared paled in comparison to his bond with Yuugi, that it paled even in comparison to his rivalry with Kaiba. There had been no Egyptian counterpart to her in the memory world, she’d been well aware of that fact. It wasn’t her who’d been destined to follow Atem through lifetimes and dimensions. Who she was and what she was feeling hadn’t been enough for Atem. 

Anzu had always wondered about Yuugi’s exact feelings for Atem. She’d been pretty certain about Kaiba’s. All of this, all of  _ them _ , was probably a huge mess orbiting around Atem, and they each had their own trauma to sort out regarding his departure from this world. At least, she mused, compared to Kaiba, she’d had the advantage of already having parted with the idea of  _ being _ with Atem in a specific way during his “lifetime” in Domino. 

Kaiba seemed to have accepted her lack of a reply as an appropriate reaction to his tale. He made no further comment. Very possibly, Anzu mused, they were now both engrossed in memories, in thoughts. 

She was running down the streets of a town in Khemet, chased by the Thief King and his monsters, ducking into alleys, listening to the villagers’ screams. Where was Yuugi? She was calling out to him as lightning crackled in the air with the Thief King’s laughter. The red sky dragon was swooping down with terrifying speed, wind whipping sand into her face, blinding her, suffocating her. Yuugi, she thought, Atem, where are you?

A low beeping sound startled Anzu out of her dream. How long had she been sleeping? Minutes? Hours? She couldn’t tell. The sky was still bright, but there were thick white clouds beneath them now painting the outlines of mountain ranges into the lightning blue skies, the shapes reminding her of a Chinese ink drawing in her mother’s study. Sleek glossy planes alternating with puffed up foamy tops, only to dissolve back into a sea of white mists.

The beeping sound, apparently, was an incoming call, as Kaiba suddenly spoke into their companionable silence. 

"Mokuba."

_ "Hello big brother!",  _ Mokuba's voice resounded cheerfully within the cockpit. Kaiba probably had him on video as well, but Anzu couldn't catch a glimpse over Kaiba's shoulder.

_ "l see you've got an unexpected passenger. Hi Anzu, how are you? Do you like my seat? Pretty neat, huh? Oh wait, I forgot you can't access the really cool features."  _ The grin in his voice told her he’d certainly not forgotten and needed the playful jibe to put her in her place. He was a Kaiba after all. 

"Good to hear you, Mokuba, it's been a long time. I'm quite comfortable here in your suite, thank you," she replied with a wink that he probably couldn't see, but the comment earned her a wholehearted laugh. 

_ "Anyway,"  _ he yawned audibly,  _ "I just got up and wanted to see how you're doing. You're making good speed, at this rate you'll be home in six and a half hours.  _

She must have been asleep for at least two hours then, Anzu deduced. 

"Did the board meeting go as expected?" Kaiba wanted to know. 

_ "Of course. You wouldn't doubt my proficiency in dealing with preposterous assholes, would you?" _

Kaiba laughed. "I certainly wouldn't. I never knew how to keep my temper around them, I have no idea how you do it. Are the reviews from the merch department in yet?" 

_ "Gotta check, but I'm on my way to KC Tower right now. Oh, one more thing, Niisama. Yuugi asked me to schedule a presentation for his latest designs with you tomorrow morning. Do you agree I should move it to the afternoon? Since his girlfriend’s gonna be here on a surprise visit and all." _

Mokuba sounded conspiratorial. Anzu found that her face had turned bright red. She didn't particularly like saying these words, making herself vulnerable to the Kaiba brothers of all people. 

"Uh, actually, Mokuba, Yuugi and me are not together. I mean… we weren't quite, not yet at least…"

_ "Oh, ok."  _ Mokuba sounded a little confused.  _ "You don't mind the early presentation then? Sorry I assumed… Well, you guys have been…'not quite, not yet' for all the time that I've known you."  _

Well, well. To be shown up like that by a teenager. There was no way she could have denied it. It had been three years since she’d left Domino, three years of neither Yuugi nor her making a move to take their unclear relationship status to the next level. While the intense friendship they shared had at times seemed sufficient, the weight of an avoided decision had been steadily gaining on her during the last few months. Her fear of losing what they had was slowly being surpassed by the need to finally speak openly, to finally have no more reason to tread carefully and hide her emotions. She settled on an easier explanation for Mokuba. 

"I guess our lives have been interrupted a lot. A new dangerous villain every few weeks is gonna do that to you. We've never really dated or anything," Anzu admitted, refusing adamantly to think of the set-up date with Atem such a long time ago. 

_ "Yeah that makes sense,"  _ Mokuba's voice chimed in. 

There was a soft snort from Kaiba. Obviously he didn't agree with his younger brother on this.

_ "It's probably easier not being a couple when you're that far away all the time."  _

All of a sudden, Anzu got angry. Not at Mokuba, but at the world, at her own indecisiveness and hesitation. How much longer would she sit next to Yuugi and be careful not to touch him in any way that would suggest them being more than close friends?

"Well, we should probably clear some things up, Yuugi and I," she told Mokuba, knowing that it was true, and that this kind of conversation between her and Yuugi was overdue. 

_ "That's good to hear!"  _ Mokuba appeared unfazed.  _ "Well, gotta go, we're almost there. I'm gonna check in with you two later." _

"Thank you", Anzu mumbled and Kaiba nodded at his brother. "Later, Mokuba."

_ "Bye! Have a good trip!"  _

A click signalled the end of the call. They were both silent, but the sky had turned a little darker and she could see Kaiba's reflection in the windshield now. There was definitely a smirk on his face. 

"Smirk at me all you like Kaiba," She told his back. "I know it’s stupid...I guess I should have been with him for years, and it actually takes your little brother calling me out to finally take action."

"Is that so, Mazaki? Are you so sure you 'should have been' with him, that it should be  _ you _ with him at all?"

"Well, we've been dancing around each other ever since…" 

"Yes, yes, of course. Not like anyone could have overlooked that. And you’re a professional, after all, you know all the right steps and graceful moves to take the lead and guide your partner through it. Only you didn't. And Yuugi, who never chickens out of an important decision, didn't press it either. Who knows if Yuugi's actually up for a different dance?"

She gaped at his back, tried to read the expression on his face in the weak reflection. No one had ever questioned Yuugi's interest in her. It had been one of the constants in her life. 

She had actively held back from pursuing a relationship in the year after the ceremonial duel, not wanting to give Yuugi the impression she regarded him as a replacement for Atem. And of course he’d needed time to say goodbye to Atem in his own way. The vacant spot Atem had left behind not only in Yuugi's mind but also in his heart must have been enormous. 

She suddenly realised the double standards she had applied to Atem and Yuugi, assuming that Yuugi would eventually be able to loosen the intense connection with Atem and put her first whereas it seemed only natural that Atem would not. When it came to Yuugi, she’d always been assuming, hadn't she? 

Another thought struck her: Why would Kaiba care? Why would he even talk to her like this? The way he was smirking suggested he knew something she didn’t - maybe there was another person Kaiba knew about who had their interests set on Yuugi? But who? Who would even concern Kaiba enough to make him care about their feelings for Yuugi? She decided that challenging Kaiba directly was her best option to gain knowledge. 

"What makes you think Yuugi is, or isn’t?" 

"Oh, I merely find it presumptuous to assume that everyone and everything is going to stay the same over the course of time and wait for you to catch up."

What the hell was it that Kaiba was suggesting? She knew his words were specifically chosen to provoke her anger and distract her from the actual question, but she couldn't help rising to the bait. 

"I've known Yuugi for much longer than you do, Kaiba. He isn't just my 'love interest', if you'd like to put it that way, he is also my best friend. We're talking to each other at least twice a week, sometimes every day when things get tough, and we’ve supported each other through a great deal. I couldn't begin to tell you how grateful I am for having Yuugi in my life. I would neither expect him to change for me, nor to stay the same for me for the rest of his life. I believe that we can grow together. So tell me, Kaiba, who you think 'should be' with Yuugi if it shouldn't be me?"

"I'm impressed, Mazaki. You've evolved from friendship speech to friendzone speech."

"And apparently you've never evolved beyond being a condescending asshole!" She couldn't hold back this time. "My relationship with Yuugi is none of your business and as much as I appreciate this lift you're giving me that doesn't give you limitless insulting rights. I believe I'm done talking to you. I can do another six hours of silence."

With that she extracted her headphones and mobile from her backpack, plugged them into her ears and switched on her favourite song. A minute later she pressed stop and sat in silence, fuming. Who the hell did Kaiba take her for? 

To calm herself down she put on the tracklist for the theatre's upcoming season opener, closing her eyes and going through the choreography in her mind. She was almost at the finale when cold fingers touched her shoulder. Anzu started violently, jerking her arms back from the armrests and hitting her elbow on the console next to her seat. 

Kaiba stared at her with slightly narrowed eyes, unimpressed. “We will be refuelling in a few minutes. There’s a plane coming up to us right now.”

“Right…” Anzu shook her head and furtively rubbed her elbow. “I...didn’t know that jets could be refuelled during flight” There was a low hum in the air around them which were probably the other aircraft’s engines. 

“Anything is possible if you can pay for it,” Kaiba drawled. “There’s a number of advantages like allowing the increase of maximum takeoff weight in cargo or personnel...”

The sound intensified, droning out his voice, and a huge aircraft appeared in the window to Anzu’s left, passing them by. Watching in fascination as the plane aligned before and slightly above them, she almost forgot her anger at Kaiba, who was now piloting in utter concentration, fingers tight around the center stick. A telescope tube was extended from the other aircraft.

“Initiating aerial refueling now,” he barked into his radio and another voice crackled back in confirmation. They were issuing commands back and forth that made no sense to Anzu, except the parts about adjusting the jet’s position slightly. The sound of engines was now a terrifying roar, along with the clunk of metal when the tube found the receptacle right behind the cockpit. She was glad Kaiba had warned her beforehand, or else she might have thought they were being abducted or under attack. The entire process took around twenty minutes. They were both silent, watching, listening as the great beast slurped up each drop of kerosine. 

“Refill completed,” the radio voice announced. “Kilo Charlie 4-6 Pegasus out, good day Mr. Kaiba.”

“Good day. Bravo Echo Whiskey Delta 0-1 out.”

The blaring engine sounds slowly faded back to a low hum as the other plane took off. Anzu leaned back into her seat, half wondering if she should return to her music now, but at that moment, Kaiba climbed out of his chair and squeezed past hers. 

“Kaiba!” She gasped, grabbing his sleeve in terror. “Where are you going??” 

Ripping the fabric of his flight suit out of her hand he glared at her. “I need to run some checks, the jet is on autopilot.”

“But I’m…” 

‘I’m alone here,’ she wanted to say but stopped herself just in time, embarrassed of being thought weak. 

Kaiba didn’t spare her another glance as he turned and climbed through the hatch into the dragon’s neck. 

Anzu stared at the windshield, stared out into the open sky in front of and above her. The clouds had changed. Where they had been towering in mountainous landscapes of incredible vastness when she had last looked at them, they were now sparsely dotting the air, allowing a nearly unimpeded view of the blue and turquoise ocean below. 

She felt sick for a moment at the thought of being alone here, of being the only living soul that stood between this machine and the forces of nature that it braved. Was this what Kaiba enjoyed so much about piloting? Wielding the device that defied gravity with such impervious elegance? What if they were to drop right now? What would she do? 

Before she could fully succumb to her panic the hatch swung open and Kaiba crawled into the cockpit.

Relief spoke for her. “Oh thank God, I’ve never been happier to see you, Kaiba.”

Kaiba stared at her for a moment, then he threw his head back and laughed, hard. “Honestly, Mazaki, I wasn’t expecting that,” he chuckled and she was dumbfounded by the sincerity of his laughter. As he settled back into the pilot seat, he made a small ‘hn’ sound, checking the readings on his screen. “Four hours and thirty-eight minutes left.”

Might as well eat something, she thought, and extracted her sandwich from her bag. Her stomach was growling embarrassingly loud, and she wondered if Kaiba had eaten anything all day long. She also fetched her bottle of water, remembering it was important to stay hydrated on long flights. 

The sandwich tasted stale somehow and her mouth was watering at the thought of getting real Japanese food again. Soon. She took a few sips, another bite. Only a couple more hours, she could ask Yuugi to walk with her to their favourite ramen shop. It had been so long since she'd had a decent ramen… 

She recognised the beeping sound of another incoming phone call. Kaiba glanced at the screen to his side. He hesitated for a moment before tapping the screen to accept the call. 

_ “Seto.” _

Oh. Anzu felt her stomach drop and her pulse step up. 

“Yuugi.”

They had talked on the phone only two days ago, and yet she’d already missed his voice. The knowledge that in just a few hours she would be in Japan, would be seeing him, made her head spin. 

_ “Sorry to bother you, but Mokuba said you're on a flight and probably bored anyway. I need to run a few simulations before I show the updates to you tomorrow. Would you mind if I did them in your lab?" _

"Be my guest," Kaiba said evenly. Anzu waited with bated breath, wondering if he might mention her presence on his flight to Yuugi, might at least suggest something to him, but Kaiba did nothing of the sort.

He typed something on his screen instead. "I've sent the access codes."

_ "Got them, thank you." _ Yuugi's voice sounded less carefree and cheerful than usual. She wondered if he wasn't feeling well. Or maybe it was just the kind of voice he used at work. The conversation wasn't over though. 

_ "How about lunch tomorrow after our conference?"  _

Kaiba snorted. "I don't have lunch." 

A little chuckle. It sounded… relaxed. Deep. A little throaty. She’d never heard Yuugi's voice like this. Does a voice change, she wondered, depending on who you talk to? It seemed that, at least for Yuugi, it did. Which one could be considered his 'real' voice? The cheerful, heartwarming 'Hello Anzu' she was used to hearing or the calm, relaxed chuckle directed at Kaiba? 

_ "Yes, I know all about your unhealthy eating habits. Let me still bring lunch, we'll have it in your office if you can’t be bothered to leave it." _

Kaiba’s reflection in the window was faint but Anzu caught the smile that flitted across his face. 

Realisation struck like a lighting bolt. She felt her mouth drop open to suck in a silent breath. 

A noncommittal sound from Kaiba - his standard answer on the phone, obviously - seemed to be the only confirmation Yuugi needed. 

_ “See you tomorrow then, Seto. Have a safe trip!” _

The call ended with a clicking sound, and Anzu couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth. 

“It’s you, Kaiba!”

“I am what, Mazaki?”

“You…” Her heart was pounding, seeking a way out of her chest just like her body was suddenly straining to leap right out of her seat. “You’re the person Yuugi…” She gulped. “The other dance Yuugi might be up for.”

He was silent, his reflection betraying nothing. Anzu’s mind was reeling at an insane speed, looking for signs in the past, going through all her recent conversations with Yuugi about his work at Kaiba Corp., about his employer. She had known that Kaiba respected Yuugi as a duelist and game designer and had told him so. Was this as much as a declaration of love, coming from Kaiba? After all, the only other duelist he’d ever respected had been Atem. His fascination with Atem, however, had been glaringly obvious, and there was nothing of the sort in his interaction with Yuugi. But what did that mean? 

“If you don’t deny it, it’s true,” she conceded, still incredulous. “Are you, I mean…?” No, it couldn’t be. And suddenly anger flared up, bright and hot. “What am I doing here in your jet, Kaiba? What is your sick plan? Are you taking me to Japan to gloat? To rub it into my face that Yuugi’s no longer interested in me?”

She was surprised at her own words, at how much she was convinced of her own accusations. But the sound of Yuugi’s voice when he’d said Kaiba’s first name, the suggestion to have lunch together in Kaiba’s office...an intimacy built upon trust and mutual understanding…

“Are you using him? Is he a substitute for Atem because you can’t have him?”

“Careful, Mazaki!” Kaiba hissed, seething anger and tightly coiled rage. She could see him clenching his fist around the center stick, his entire body ready for attack. “Two can play at that game. Isn’t that what he is to you?”

“Never!!” she all but screamed it into the sterile conditioned air between them, clutching the armrests of her seat and hating every moment that she had to spend confined in it, wanting so badly to  _ move _ , to run away from this. 

“Can you be so sure?” Kaiba’s voice was malicious, cutting deep. “They were joined in one body for such a long time. Since I’ve basically only interacted with them in duels I’ve always been talking to Atem. The lines are a lot more blurry for you, I believe.”

Was it true? Was Kaiba right? Guilt flooded Anzu immediately. She’d asked herself that question so many times, she’d reasoned with those demons for years, she had finally pushed them into a corner of her mind, sealed away together with Atem - he’s gone, what does it matter now, it doesn’t, stop thinking - and tried to move on - Yuugi doesn’t deserve this, to be compared to an ancient pharaoh’s spirit, and Atem never loved you anyway, but you’ve always liked Yuugi, you’ve always been friends, why is it wrong to love him now, is it wrong, is it wrong?

“Shut up!” She was ordering her brain as much as Kaiba. “I won’t allow you to torment me about this anymore!”

“Oh, poor friendship girl,” Kaiba said mockingly, his anger still a lethal weapon. “Imagine the  _ torment _ of not knowing who you really want. Imagine how hard it must be for you to look at Yuugi and hope you don’t see any trace of Atem in him.”

“OH, speak for yourself, Kaiba!” 

“Nothing could be more obvious or enjoyable to me than the difference between Atem and Yuugi.”

“Ahh yes, of course! You’ve made that clear when you called Yuugi a ‘vessel’!”

Kaiba, unexpectedly, was silent. 

“So you regret that at least. Good.” Anzu sat back with a huff, still shaking with nervous energy. “Answer me, what am I doing on this plane? Why are you taking me to Japan?”

“He misses you. Though I honestly can’t see why, at this point.” Kaiba’s voice was rough, angry. But the words ‘he misses you’....they were vulnerable, soft. 

"He… misses me," Anzu whispered, more to herself than Kaiba, trying to decipher what they were implying. So there was still a possibility that Yuugi wanted her? Did he know about Kaiba's… feelings? 

"Do I need to spell it out for you?" Kaiba bit out, rolling his eyes. "Shouldn't you be the one to lecture  _ me  _ about relationships?" 

Anzu huffed. "Excuse me for being a little confused right now!" 

"You've never even considered the possibility that Yuugi might have other people in his life?" Kaiba's voice was flat instead of condescending.

"He never gave me a reason to," she replied. "He doesn’t talk about these things a lot." A thought came to her as she spoke the words. If Yuugi wasn't talking to her about his feelings he probably wasn't telling Kaiba about them either. Kaiba wouldn't address the subject with her the way he did if he knew the exact nature of Yuugi's feelings for her. 

"So… You’re taking me to him because he misses me. And you don't know if he misses me in a romantic or a platonic way. This is what you are trying to find out." She kept going, now that she knew she was onto something and with every word she could feel herself growing more secure in the knowledge of being right. "You’re doing him a favour, and taking a risk. That's you, if you really care for someone, you disregard the risks, you make sacrifices for them." She was talking while her brain was making the conclusion. "And now… Some time these next few weeks, at the very latest when I return to the States, you will know. We will both know…." Anzu gulped around the lump rising in her throat. "And one of us is going to lose."

Kaiba said nothing. It was as good as a yes, from all that she could tell about him by now. 

“This is a sick game, Kaiba,” she whispered into the silence, knowing that it was not a game at all, and realising in that very instant that they’d both experienced the same kind of loss already, with the same person no less. So one of them - or both, who was to say Yuugi would play along and choose one of them - was going to have lost both Atem and Yuugi in the end. 

Shit. 

There was no other word to describe the dark chasm opening before her at the very thought. 

Was Kaiba clinging to the warmth that was Yuugi as much as she was?

“Mazaki.” Kaiba’s voice was low. “I’m not playing a game.”

She sighed, suddenly tired, the darkness still looming at the periphery of her mind, edges not of night but of blackness darker than night, colder and without comfort. 

“I know you’re not...I guess you really…” There was no easy way to say this. “You care.”

A wince and a painful tightness in his voice. “I do.” 

“Have you… done anything…?”

“No.”

Anzu allowed herself to sink back into the seat and decided she owed Kaiba the same honesty he had shown her. “We haven’t either. But you probably know that.”

Kaiba’s laugh was shallow. “I assumed as much. His actions are… not easy to interpret. He’s affectionate with so many people and still distant with every single one of them, except you and the m...Jounouchi.”

The name sounded unfamiliar on his tongue, like he had just learned it, and Anzu appreciated the effort. “And you, Kaiba. From what I can tell.”

The silence was charged with meaning. Kaiba was probably imagining Yuugi talking to her about his work at KC, his close collaboration with Kaiba. Knowing him, he was probably analyzing every single second of their interaction Yuugi could have told her about, trying to look at it from her angle. 

Anzu wondered if they had gone from fighting over Yuugi to bonding over him. 

It was hard to imagine Kaiba as her rival. She’d reacted extremely jealously to any attempts women had made to get Yuugi’s attention during the course of his dueling history. And none of them had ever posed a real threat to her, she’d known that well enough. Kaiba on the other hand… was his very own category of person. Could she be jealous of Kaiba? And what for? Kaiba was so aloof, so over the top. 

What would they be like together, Kaiba and Yuugi? She had seen Kaiba bring out sides in Yuugi during the Aigami disaster that she’d known he possessed but had never been able to pinpoint exactly until the moment they’d been facing each other in that duel. 

Even as she was wondering what the two of them would look like together, her brain began to supply images…

...Kaiba, in a white suit with a blue shirt, Yuugi, all in black, except for a wine red tie, at a formal business dinner, shaking hands with the celebrities of the gaming industry. Yuugi, avoiding to look at Kaiba while Kaiba is directing his usual bored glare at everyone around him, until… until they find each other in the restroom, Kaiba lifting Yuugi onto a marble sink countertop and catching him with both hands held fast against the mirror, leaning into him, and Yuugi’s legs wrapping around him with a helpless moan….

No...that. That was wrong, wasn’t it? 

That was something she could have seen… Atem doing. Not Yuugi. Atem and Kaiba, had Atem stayed to be his own person.

...Yuugi, looking over the screen of his laptop at Kaiba who is sitting opposite him, engrossed in his work, the blue light reflecting on both their faces, obscuring the shaded circles underlining their eyes. The spurious darkness of a neon lit city outside, staggering shadows on the wall whenever one of them is moving. Yuugi working overtime, Kaiba working a crazy schedule as per usual. Yuugi’s furtive glances, a little worried, then him rising out of his office chair -  _ I’m getting a glass of water, do you want something, Seto? -  _ A grunt, but Kaiba looking up for a moment to meet Yuugi’s eyes and there is something burning in them, aching in them, that roots Yuugi to the spot and he keeps staring even when Kaiba’s eyes return to the computer screen….

They were so serious with each other… But Kaiba was smiling when Yuugi offered lunch earlier… 

….A game of duel monsters in Kaiba’s lab. Holographic scenery all around them, something ethereal - outer space, the milky way, uncountable stars circling their monsters, coldly serene and impervious to the force of their attacks. The Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon bright like a supernova, Yuugi's Dark Paladin melting into the blackness of the endless void. Kaiba smirking -  _ Prepare to lose, Yuugi -  _ and Yuugi smiling that secretive smile of his, placing a facedown card -  _ Too late. Sorry about this, Seto. _

A holographic floor in the middle of the milky way, Kaiba on his back, starlight in his blue eyes, head tilted to grant Yuugi access to his pale throat. Yuugi’s kisses slow over his bare collarbone, his chest, both their faces graced by a flush that is merely a darker shade of their skin tones, painted with a delicately chiselled brush. A feral smirk meeting a mischievous grin, Kaiba’s coat spilling around them, whipping softly with an artificial breeze designed for flaring dramatics, now tousling their already messy hair. Kaiba’s lips fall open…

And no sound escapes. 

Anzu’s overactive imagination didn’t have words to put in Kaiba’s mouth, and she was flushed with embarrassment at even imagining him like this. 

“What are you planning to do, Kaiba?” she challenged him, trying to dispel the images her brain had supplied so readily. 

“What are  _ you  _ planning to do, Mazaki?”

Well, what  _ was _ she planning to do, indeed? Walk up to Yuugi and tell him that she loved him and wanted him in her life? Or walk up to Yuugi and confess that she felt she didn’t understand anything anymore? Both seemed ludicrous, somehow. 

It dawned on her that over all those years of assuming that Yuugi would eventually be with her, the love she felt for him had become quiescent, had grown into a comfortable, warm nest, a mental space to feel at home, an idea that got her through the harshest of days. 

Even her fantasies in the dark of the night had become languorous - Yuugi's hands on her thighs as she was kneeling over him, guiding her softly, without rush, rising to meet her in a kiss and smiling sweetly at her when she pulled away. 

She found herself reevaluating  _ everything  _ she had thought she knew about Yuugi, everything she had assumed. What was it that Yuugi wanted in a lover? Was it possible that he’d already been with other people during the time she’d been away? 

Atem… Had Yuugi been with Atem? Had it been possible for them to… be intimate… in their shared soulroom? How could she have avoided thinking about this in all the time she’d been wondering what exactly it had been that they’d felt for each other? 

What would Yuugi see in Kaiba? The determination, the passion, the power? Would Yuugi want that kind of power in a sexual encounter? Would he want Kaiba above him… inside him? Controlling him, overwhelming him? She knew she must have turned bright red but her thoughts were running rampant now. 

Her fantasies of Yuugi's warm, gentle hands on her body clashed with fantasies of Yuugi's slim wrists tied above his head with one of Kaiba's belts - only to suddenly be replaced with an image of Yuugi's deft fingers tying  _ Kaiba's  _ wrists instead, his smile sweet as ever, but a certain sway about his actions that made her stomach flutter and clench in embarrassed desire. 

The bubble of her comfortably contained love and longing broke open under the force of the torrent of new sensations. They were pouring out, gushing trails of fire that engulfed places in her body and mind that she had not known she possessed. 

She took a deep breath, vulnerable with the revelation of how much she could be feeling all at once, but trying to cling to what she knew she could handle. “I’m going to enjoy his company, his friendship, his presence. The way we’ve always been with each other. But I  _ am  _ going to make it clear this time how I feel about him.” It managed to ground her to say it out loud. 

“And then?”

“And then what?” she replied, confused. 

“If he ...makes it clear how he feels about you, too?”

Another rush of sensation. Dread, mixed with a fluttering hopeful desire. “Then I am going to assure him that, no matter if we’re in a romantic or a platonic relationship, we will always be friends.”

“Of course.” Kaiba’s sarcasm was hollow, only serving the purpose of hiding what he was truly feeling. 

“What do you think he is going to say?”

Kaiba didn’t answer for a long moment. Anzu noticed he was lowering his head a little, allowing his bangs to drop into his face and hide his reactions in the windshield reflection from her. “He’s very likely to just tell you what he thinks you’d want to hear.” 

“He wouldn’t lie to me!” Anzu objected fiercely. 

“So you think he’d also tell you to your face if he doesn’t want to be with you?”

There was more to this question than an accusation, she realised. Kaiba's own doubts saturated every single word. She sighed. “Kaiba, Yuugi may be too nice for his own good but he’d never allow himself to play with someone’s feelings, even if it’s originally meant to avoid hurting them.”

Kaiba’s silence confirmed her suspicions. 

Long minutes of quiet tension passed before he spoke up again.

“You’re not planning to fight for him, are you, Mazaki?”

Anzu stared at the back of his head, trying to guess where this was going. “Why would I fight for something Yuugi can and will give freely to whoever he deems fit? He’s a grown man, he knows what he wants, so what use would it be to fight over it?”

When he answered her, Kaiba’s voice held a hint of the painful timbre she’d heard when he had told her about his encounter with Atem in the afterlife. “Sometimes it makes all the difference to know that there’s someone willing to fight for you. But I think this is where I get to say we’re not so similar after all, right?”

“I guess so, yes,” Anzu replied, unable to suppress a small chuckle. "Are you going to fight for him, Kaiba?" 

His face was still largely hidden beneath his bangs. "If I deem it necessary,  _ yes _ ."

"Well, I can assure you, I'll fight back. If I deem it necessary." She allowed the fake smile she usually reserved for dance competitions to slip onto her face. 

"Duly noted, Mazaki." Kaiba's voice was bored but the smirk on his face betrayed his reaction. It was familiar ground, a challenge, a contest. It was not as complicated as an elusive emotion. 

Anzu looked away. Sunlight was glaring through the windshield, reflecting off its surface, suddenly far too bright. She had not thought to bring her sunglasses. Taking out her phone for a glance she calculated the time. It should be a little past 10 pm in New York now, around midday in Japan. It was strange to think about it. Up here above the clouds time seemed to have come to a standstill as they were travelling with the sun in a state of eternal daylight. Losing a day, or rather, a night - a night that somehow wasn't going to exist anymore once they had arrived. Flying away from time itself. She wasn't really tired yet but her eyes were getting dry and her contacts were itching. And there was another nagging discomfort….

"Uhm. " She cleared her throat softly to get Kaiba's attention. "Where did you say...the restroom…?" 

"Open the hatch right behind your seat, handle turns to the left," Kaiba instructed without looking at her. "There's a corridor through the Blue Eyes' neck, turn right at the end, there's a sign on the door."

"Thanks." Anzu inclined her head slightly then unbuckled her seatbelt and awkwardly climbed out of her seat. It took her a few fumbling moments to open the hatch but she refused to ask for help or let her confusion show. 

The corridor the hatch opened into reminded her of a spaceship interior taken straight from popular Sci-fi movies. Dark silver panels with ventilation grids, cold metal tiles on the floor, a faint neon blue glow. It was loud here, the turbines roaring in her ears. Supporting her unsteady walk with a hand on the wall panels she made it to the end of the corridor and slipped through the door with the unmistakable sign. 

The bathroom was small but certainly comfortable and well-equipped for a plane. The sink might even be marble, she thought, running a finger along the smooth surface. Dark tiles gave the room a futuristic design, the lights were a little softer than outside. 

Anzu took care of necessities then faced herself in the mirror. Straight shoulder length hair framed her face, her skin looked pallid in the faint neon light glow. For a moment she was taken aback by how tired she looked, her usual energy all but drained. Miniscule leftover flakes of the makeup she had hastily removed at the theatre clung to her eyelashes, burdening them with a dark tinge. 

What would Yuugi even see in her? 

She was plain, ordinary, staring at the long-haired, infinitely-legged beauties in their changing room as they slipped into their costumes with a high-pitched giggle and a cocky toss of their head. She was short for a dancer. 

Standing in the changing rooms of her first ballet class, thinking  _ you're not gonna make it, you aren't good enough _ . Her mother, the dancer who gave up her career for her family.  _ You need to practise more, Anzu, there's too many other girls who like to dance. Maybe you shouldn't be hanging out so much with your card game friends.  _

The auditions. Thoughts in a constant loop.  _ You're not gonna make it. Yes I will. No you won't. Yes I will! You'll forget a step. I KNOW my steps! Look at all the others…  _

...Atem's sad frown, eyes full of pity. _It isn't you he wants. You're just friends, you're not good enough for him._ Yuugi smiling at her. _He is so perfect. I'm not good enough. I don't deserve him._ And Kaiba's piercing blue eyes, staring her down. _You think Yuugi would wait for you?_

She didn’t notice the tears sliding down her cheeks until she saw them in the mirror. Even then she had to bring a shaky hand up to her face to test if they were truly there, if it wasn't just her mirror image that had started to cry. Feeling the wetness on her fingertips something broke inside her.  _ Not good enough.  _ The things she wasn't allowed to feel, wasn't even allowed to admit to herself, the emotions she needed to push back on a daily basis to be good at the job she was doing, the thoughts plaguing her in the middle of the night when she longed to hold Yuugi and forget about everything that was complicated in their lives, they were now drowning her in a sudden flood. 

Before she knew it and could even fathom how she had moved, she was shaking with sobs, curled into an embryonic position on the cold restroom floor. Her sobs became hiccups, the hiccups gasps, laughter, she was watching her own breakdown from the sidelines unable to interfere with what was happening to her body. And only when the sobbing had finally died down she could feel herself slipping back into the pain. 

At least, she thought, this hadn't happened in front of Kaiba. She should have been wondering earlier why she'd been able to handle all of this so calmly, stoically, why she'd been able to imagine Yuugi and Kaiba together in a way that left out all of her own emotional involvement. She should have realised what was happening, that her mind had been suppressing what she was feeling only to spit everything back at her when the chance presented itself. But now, as sobs had turned back to soft, pitiful hiccups again, it was too late for that kind of assessment. 

How long… had she been in here? More than fifteen minutes? Probably too long for anyone to believe she had simply wandered off to renew her make-up. She didn’t have make-up with her anyway. What would Kaiba be thinking? She wouldn't put it past him to have security cameras even in the…

Her thought was interrupted by a fist banging loudly on the door. So much for that, she thought, ridiculously relieved that there had been no cameras witnessing her breakdown. 

Gingerly wiping her face dry on her sleeve she stood and called out, "I'll just be a moment!" One look in the mirror told her there was no way she was going to be able to hide from Kaiba what had been happening if she went out now. Would it be a good enough excuse if she told him she had been sick? Period cramps, maybe? Oh God, would that be more or less embarrassing than him seeing her crying?

"You better be, or else I'm kicking down this door," Kaiba growled outside. 

Anzu took a deep breath, unlocked the door and nudged it open, avoiding Kaiba's eyes. 

"What the hell have you been…" He fell silent almost immediately upon seeing her face. 

"Sorry for bothering you." Anzu was surprised and immensely proud at how calm and normal her voice sounded. "I'll be back in my seat in a moment." 

Kaiba was still silent, staring at her, so she turned and slowly made her way back to the cockpit. Climbing back in through the hatch she could hear him following after her. 

Back in her seat she noticed she’d lost one of her contacts in the entire ordeal and took out the other one as well. Her glasses were in the cargo bay with her suitcase, but her sight wasn't so bad that she needed them. And her tired, red eyes certainly wouldn't tolerate new contacts at the moment. Kaiba had climbed into the pilot seat, still quiet. Suddenly he cleared his throat.

"You should get some sleep, or you'll be jetlagged the entire day after our arrival."

"Ah...I guess I should," she replied, surprised that he would care. 

"Mazaki," he said, and she could see his eyes seeking out her reflection in the windshield. "I can see... why Yuugi values your presence. I respect that."

Her mouth dropped open, her mind reeling, grasping for words. Kaiba beat her to it. 

"That doesn't mean I'm going to be any less of a threat to you. Or you to me. Now get some sleep so you'll be up for the challenge."

An odd kind of warmth spread through her chest, soothing a little of the soreness left there from the strain of crying. Kaiba was  _ comforting  _ her. Hell was going to freeze over soon, but she couldn't deny she was extremely grateful. 

"Thank you," she mumbled. Exhaustion was weighing down her body, her eyelids, her every muscle… it would soon be midnight in New York…

She didn’t know when she had drifted off to sleep, only that it was still bright day when she woke, and there was a soft pressure on her eardrums, a telltale sign of descent. Her seat had been put in a reclined position. Despite the added comfort she felt stiff and tense, a hint of a headache pressing against her temples from the inside, but she could feel that sleep had helped to renew a little of her energy. Hungover on emotion, drained and refilled. 

Just as she was adjusting the seat back to the initial position another call came through. Kaiba, without so much as a reaction to her being awake, took the call. 

_ "Bravo Echo Whiskey Delta 01, welcome to Domino airspace! You're cleared for landing at KC runway 3, your ground crew is expecting you. It's a beautiful sunny afternoon in Domino." _

"Mokuba," Kaiba drawled, affectionately. "What are you doing on the flight deck?

_ "Guess what, I brought a little welcome party. Just for you, Anzu. He looked a little down at lunch today so I took him along telling him Seto needs his presence for an immediate debriefing." _

Anzu was almost certain her heart had stopped for a moment. Mokuba had brought Yuugi.

"Well, Mokuba, make sure you don't forget the rose petal rain and the church organ for the bridal march okay?" Kaiba's voice was rich with bored sarcasm. Anzu wondered if he was hiding as much nervousness behind that facade as she was currently feeling. 

_ "It's gonna be fun, Nii-sama, you'll see! I can't wait for the look on Yuugi's face!"  _

Anzu's heart was pounding like a drumroll. Seto’s shoulders were clenched tightly. Both of them, she was sure, were imagining Yuugi's face right now. 

_ Gotta hang up now, Niisama, he's coming back right now. See you in a few moments!" _

Kaiba wordlessly ended the call and thus their conversation. 

"So it starts," he commented in a low voice, almost under his breath. 

This was too fast, Anzu realised, watching in a panic how the ground closed in on them. "Kaiba, I'm not sure this is the right tim…" 

"I am warning you that I am not planning to hold back, Mazaki," he interrupted her coolly. "Make a fucking strategy and play." 

Down below she could already make out the concrete jungle of Domino and KC tower in the distance. She eagerly took in the sight while trying to think of something that she was going to do or say, once Yuugi was indeed standing in front of her. 

Nothing came to her mind except for the thought that it felt wrong to her to strategize on something so delicate, so important and so beautiful as making another person feel how much they were loved and appreciated.

A robotic sound suggested that the jet's clawlike tires were being dropped preparing it for landing. Kaiba guided her to touch down gracefully, with barely a tremor running through her metal body. The force of the reverse thrust slammed Anzu’s body into the seat, the sound of the turbines fighting full force against the incredible speed of the jet added a final terrifying roar. A diminuendo as the beast quieted and slowed down at last. They were rolling leisurely towards the hangar. 

Heavy doors opened to allow them in but didn’t close again, permitting the warm sunlight of an early summer afternoon to filter into the darkness of a man made cave of concrete and metal. The cockpit was lowered to the ground and the hatch opened for them. 

Anzu's still tired eyes were adjusting slowly to the change from bright blue skies to sun-permeated dimness. She spotted Mokuba and Yuugi only moments before they saw her. 

Mokuba was walking slightly ahead of Yuugi, and he seemed to have gained another couple of inches since she’d last seen him. His hair was in a low asymmetric ponytail and he was dressed in what might have been either a lab coat or a fashion statement, it was hard to tell from the distance. If she was not mistaken there might also have been a hint of stubble that he proudly displayed on his chin. 

Yuugi on the other hand… looked exactly like he always did, like she had known him for all the short years of their adult lives. A dark violet vest over a light violet dress shirt in lieu of a business suit. Anzu knew Kaiba had encouraged Yuugi to wear this outfit. Something about not putting himself on a level with grovelling office clerks, Yuugi had told her on the phone, slightly bemused. 

Yuugi seemed to be laughing at something Mokuba had said when his eyes found hers. His step slowed down, nearly staggering to a halt but suddenly picked up pace again until Yuugi was practically running. 

She hastened to climb out of the cockpit. Her feet touched the ground for the shortest moment, before she was swept off them and spun in a circle. Much like in a swing choreography, the momentum of Yuugi's joy more than made up for what he lacked in height to lift her like this. 

"Oh my God, I can't believe it!" Yuugi gushed, beaming, when he had set her down again, and Mokuba was laughing gleefully somewhere to their right. "It's so good to see you!" 

"And you, Yuugi!" The words bubbled with laughter in her throat, and all the nervousness or awkwardness she might have been feeling was quenched simply by looking into Yuugi's eyes.

This was the Yuugi she had always known, and yet, there was something different about him, something that no phone call could adequately convey. Something that made her curious. She realised she was ready to look now, look more closely and find out everything she’d been missing. To get to know Yuugi again, to learn to love him anew. 

The heat of his palms on her sides was soaking through her clothes. Yuugi, perceptive as always, noticed the momentary flicker of her eyes towards his hands and let go just a little too fast. Instantly she mourned the warmth of his touch. 

"How long are you staying? I mean…" He glanced past her at Kaiba. "Seto, I… I can't begin to thank you for taking Anzu here, this is such a great surprise."

Kaiba took a step forward so he was almost standing next to her. Next to them. 

"I didn't give you a birthday gift."

Yuugi chuckled. "That was three weeks ago. And it doesn't mean you're indebted to me or anything. But I appreciate it. Thank you, Seto."

Kaiba didn't answer right away. He also didn't move. Yuugi, who had regarded Kaiba with a passing glance, was suddenly looking intently, curiously. Their eyes met for real, and Anzu's breath froze in her lungs. There was an eternity in the few seconds they held each other’s gaze. Was it real, or was it just her imagination that detected a faint blush on Yuugi's cheeks when he looked away? 

"Don't mention it," Kaiba stated finally, coolly, "That's what friends are for." And he turned to Anzu and gave her a blatant smirk. 

Anzu gaped at him. The bastard had the audacity to steal her move! Trying to make Yuugi more comfortable by stressing the importance and continuing weight of their friendship… 'Well, Kaiba,' she thought, 'if that's how you choose to play…' She had once been a duelist herself. That she had not pursued it in a way Yuugi or Jou did was owed to her dancing career and lack of interest in competitive play. She had beaten her fair share of opponents.

"I'd never have thought I'd hear you say those words, Kaiba!" she called out. "I guess time changes us all… reshuffles our priorities…and to what lengths we’re willing to go for them." She smirked right back at him.

Kaiba lifted an eyebrow. Challenge accepted. He would be in for a surprise. Anzu could be very decisive when she wanted to be. 

Yuugi was smiling but obviously trying to piece together the meaning of their banter. "Well, you seem to be rubbing off on each other," he observed, his eyes darting quickly between their faces. Anzu thought it best not to let him come to a conclusion.

"You could say that." Trying to distract him with a brilliant smile she grasped his hand. "Well, Yuugi, would you like to go to that ramen place on your way home when you've finished work? I'm dying to have a decent ramen again." 

"Uh…," Yuugi stammered, glancing briefly at their joined hands but she deliberately kept her grip firmly comfortable around his palm. "Yeah, sure! I think I need another three or four hours with the designs." He turned a little to grin at Kaiba. "You're gonna like the final version, I'm looking forward to showing you the details tomorrow!" 

"Me too," Kaiba said, a little quieter than usual. If Yuugi noticed he chose not to react to it. Then again, he might have been a bit preoccupied with Anzu squeezing his hand briefly before letting go. 

"Mazaki," Kaiba's voice was back to normal when he addressed her, "I gave Isono instructions to take you home. But if you prefer to wait around here at Kaiba Corp I can also arrange for your suitcase to be sent to your home instead."

They looked at each other, a final sizing each other up, and Anzu found that a slow but genuine smile was pulling at the corners of her mouth." Thank you, Kaiba. I'd rather go home then, surprise my mum, take a shower. But I appreciate your generous offer. Thank you again for taking me home."

Kaiba nodded and turned away to talk to Mokuba. 

Yuugi had taken a few steps towards the jet, monstrous as a quivering creature in the dim hangar, inspecting it curiously." I've never seen that jet up close," he murmured, almost to himself. "She sure is a beauty, more artwork than aircraft… You have to tell me all about that trip." 

He turned to grin at her. "So, did Kaiba let a few secrets spill when it was just the two of you up there over the clouds?" 

Anzu glanced at the dragon of matt silver and thought that she could discern a feral smirk on its metallic muzzle. For a split second she was back in that moment beyond time, the daylit night lost to the concept of time zones, the night that did not exist anymore now, that had somehow been erased and yet would never be forgotten. 

She briefly narrowed her eyes at the beast before she answered Yuugi's question. "I believe Kaiba and I agree that what belongs in the sky stays in the sky. But you can always ask  _ him _ about it."

  
  



End file.
